2025
Conference article
Open Access
Weaving tales of crafts: narrative creation for cultural heritage preservation
Pratelli N., Bartalesi Lenzi V.
This study explores the transformative potential of semantic technologies and formal narratives in preserving and contextualizing Heritage Crafts (HCs) within the Craeft project, a Horizon Europe initiative (2023--2026). By applying the fabula-narration framework and utilizing the Craeft ontology, this research demonstrates how diverse craft knowledge --- from creation processes to historical contexts --- can be systematically represented, accessed, and visualized by various audiences. A case study on Limoges porcelain illustrates how integrating historical, cultural, and technical dimensions into structured narratives can effectively connect past and present craft traditions.Source: CEUR WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS, vol. 3964, pp. 185-191. Lucca, Italy, 10/04/2025
Project(s): Craeft
Pratelli N., Bartalesi Lenzi V.
This study explores the transformative potential of semantic technologies and formal narratives in preserving and contextualizing Heritage Crafts (HCs) within the Craeft project, a Horizon Europe initiative (2023--2026). By applying the fabula-narration framework and utilizing the Craeft ontology, this research demonstrates how diverse craft knowledge --- from creation processes to historical contexts --- can be systematically represented, accessed, and visualized by various audiences. A case study on Limoges porcelain illustrates how integrating historical, cultural, and technical dimensions into structured narratives can effectively connect past and present craft traditions.Source: CEUR WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS, vol. 3964, pp. 185-191. Lucca, Italy, 10/04/2025
Project(s): Craeft
See at:
ceur-ws.org 
| CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS 
2025
Journal article
Open Access
A digitally enhanced ethnography for craft action and process understanding
Zabulis X., Nikolaos P., Manikaki V., Demeridou I., Dubois A., Moreno I., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Pratelli N., Meghini C., Manitsaris S., Senteri G.
Traditional ethnographic methods have long been employed to study craft practices, yet they often fall short of capturing the full depth of embodied knowledge, material interactions, and procedural workflows inherent in craftsmanship. This paper introduces a digitally enhanced ethnographic framework that integrates Motion Capture, 3D scanning, audiovisual documentation, and semantic knowledge representation to document both the tangible and dynamic aspects of craft processes. By distinguishing between endurant (tools, materials, objects) and perdurant (actions, events, transformations) entities, we propose a structured methodology for analyzing craft gestures, material behaviors, and production workflows. The study applies this proposed framework to eight European craft traditions—including glassblowing, tapestry weaving, woodcarving, porcelain pottery, marble carving, silversmithing, clay pottery, and textile weaving—demonstrating the adaptability of digital ethnographic tools across disciplines. Through a combination of multimodal data acquisition and expert-driven annotation, we present a comprehensive model for craft documentation that enhances the preservation, education, and analysis of artisanal knowledge. This research contributes to the ongoing evolution of ethnographic methods by bridging digital technology with Cultural Heritage studies, offering a robust framework for understanding the mechanics and meanings of craft practices.Source: APPLIED SCIENCES, vol. 15 (issue 10)
DOI: 10.3390/app15105408
Project(s): Craeft
Metrics:
Zabulis X., Nikolaos P., Manikaki V., Demeridou I., Dubois A., Moreno I., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Pratelli N., Meghini C., Manitsaris S., Senteri G.
Traditional ethnographic methods have long been employed to study craft practices, yet they often fall short of capturing the full depth of embodied knowledge, material interactions, and procedural workflows inherent in craftsmanship. This paper introduces a digitally enhanced ethnographic framework that integrates Motion Capture, 3D scanning, audiovisual documentation, and semantic knowledge representation to document both the tangible and dynamic aspects of craft processes. By distinguishing between endurant (tools, materials, objects) and perdurant (actions, events, transformations) entities, we propose a structured methodology for analyzing craft gestures, material behaviors, and production workflows. The study applies this proposed framework to eight European craft traditions—including glassblowing, tapestry weaving, woodcarving, porcelain pottery, marble carving, silversmithing, clay pottery, and textile weaving—demonstrating the adaptability of digital ethnographic tools across disciplines. Through a combination of multimodal data acquisition and expert-driven annotation, we present a comprehensive model for craft documentation that enhances the preservation, education, and analysis of artisanal knowledge. This research contributes to the ongoing evolution of ethnographic methods by bridging digital technology with Cultural Heritage studies, offering a robust framework for understanding the mechanics and meanings of craft practices.Source: APPLIED SCIENCES, vol. 15 (issue 10)
DOI: 10.3390/app15105408
Project(s): Craeft
Metrics:
See at:
CNR IRIS | www.mdpi.com | CNR IRIS
2024
Conference article
Restricted
Using geospatial semantic web for exploring geographic knowledge in medieval manuscripts
Pratelli N., Bartalesi Lenzi V.
This paper explores the capabilities of the Geospatial Semantic Web to support scholars in studying the geographic knowledge included in medieval and Renaissance works. In the context of the Italian national research project IMAGO, we developed a CRM-based ontology that aligns with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OCG) GeoSPARQL standard. The ontology enables geospatial queries on the IMAGO knowledge graph. The results of these queries, as detailed in this paper, demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach in representing the geospatial data and in inferring new knowledge. For example, using this approach, we are able to identify all the works that mention places in a specific region, or by combining geographic knowledge with knowledge about the literary genre of the works, we can identify authors who travelled to a particular territory, such as the Holy Land. Furthermore, combining temporal and geospatial information enables us to discover places within a particular territory mentioned in manuscripts of a specific century. These examples demonstrate the potential of the Geospatial Semantic Web approach to uncover previously hidden connections and enrich our understanding of historical and geographical data.Source: LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, vol. 15178, pp. 74-84. Ljubljana, Slovenia, 24–27/09/2024
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-72440-4_7
Metrics:
Pratelli N., Bartalesi Lenzi V.
This paper explores the capabilities of the Geospatial Semantic Web to support scholars in studying the geographic knowledge included in medieval and Renaissance works. In the context of the Italian national research project IMAGO, we developed a CRM-based ontology that aligns with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OCG) GeoSPARQL standard. The ontology enables geospatial queries on the IMAGO knowledge graph. The results of these queries, as detailed in this paper, demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach in representing the geospatial data and in inferring new knowledge. For example, using this approach, we are able to identify all the works that mention places in a specific region, or by combining geographic knowledge with knowledge about the literary genre of the works, we can identify authors who travelled to a particular territory, such as the Holy Land. Furthermore, combining temporal and geospatial information enables us to discover places within a particular territory mentioned in manuscripts of a specific century. These examples demonstrate the potential of the Geospatial Semantic Web approach to uncover previously hidden connections and enrich our understanding of historical and geographical data.Source: LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, vol. 15178, pp. 74-84. Ljubljana, Slovenia, 24–27/09/2024
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-72440-4_7
Metrics:
2024
Journal article
Open Access
Using large language models to create narrative events
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Lenzi E., De Martino C.
Narratives play a crucial role in human communication, serving as a means to convey experiences, perspectives, and meanings across various domains. They are particularly significant in scientific communities, where narratives are often utilized to explain complex phenomena and share knowledge. This article explores the possibility of integrating large language models (LLMs) into a workflow that, exploiting the Semantic Web technologies, transforms raw textual data gathered by scientific communities into narratives. In particular, we focus on using LLMs to automatically create narrative events, maintaining the reliability of the generated texts. The study provides a conceptual definition of narrative events and evaluates the performance of different smaller LLMs compared to the requirements we identified. A key aspect of the experiment is the emphasis on maintaining the integrity of the original narratives in the LLM outputs, as experts often review texts produced by scientific communities to ensure their accuracy and reliability. We first perform an evaluation on a corpus of five narratives and then on a larger dataset comprising 124 narratives. LLaMA 2 is identified as the most suitable model for generating narrative events that closely align with the input texts, demonstrating its ability to generate high-quality narrative events. Prompt engineering techniques are then employed to enhance the performance of the selected model, leading to further improvements in the quality of the generated texts.Source: PEERJ. COMPUTER SCIENCE., vol. 10
DOI: 10.7717/peerj-cs.2242
Project(s): Craeft
Metrics:
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Lenzi E., De Martino C.
Narratives play a crucial role in human communication, serving as a means to convey experiences, perspectives, and meanings across various domains. They are particularly significant in scientific communities, where narratives are often utilized to explain complex phenomena and share knowledge. This article explores the possibility of integrating large language models (LLMs) into a workflow that, exploiting the Semantic Web technologies, transforms raw textual data gathered by scientific communities into narratives. In particular, we focus on using LLMs to automatically create narrative events, maintaining the reliability of the generated texts. The study provides a conceptual definition of narrative events and evaluates the performance of different smaller LLMs compared to the requirements we identified. A key aspect of the experiment is the emphasis on maintaining the integrity of the original narratives in the LLM outputs, as experts often review texts produced by scientific communities to ensure their accuracy and reliability. We first perform an evaluation on a corpus of five narratives and then on a larger dataset comprising 124 narratives. LLaMA 2 is identified as the most suitable model for generating narrative events that closely align with the input texts, demonstrating its ability to generate high-quality narrative events. Prompt engineering techniques are then employed to enhance the performance of the selected model, leading to further improvements in the quality of the generated texts.Source: PEERJ. COMPUTER SCIENCE., vol. 10
DOI: 10.7717/peerj-cs.2242
Project(s): Craeft
Metrics:
See at:
PeerJ Computer Science | PeerJ Computer Science | IRIS Cnr | IRIS Cnr | CNR IRIS
2024
Journal article
Open Access
A semantic knowledge graph of European mountain value chains
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Coro G., Lenzi E., Pratelli N., Pagano P., Moretti M., Brunori G.
The United Nations forecast a significant shift in global population distribution by 2050, with rural populations projected to decline. This decline will particularly challenge mountain areas' cultural heritage, well-being, and economic sustainability. Understanding the economic, environmental, and societal effects of rural population decline is particularly important in Europe, where mountainous regions are vital for supplying goods. The present paper describes a geospatially explicit semantic knowledge graph containing information on 454 European mountain value chains. It is the first large-size, structured collection of information on mountain value chains. Our graph, structured through ontology-based semantic modelling, offers representations of the value chains in the form of narratives. The graph was constructed semi-automatically from unstructured data provided by mountain-area expert scholars. It is accessible through a public repository and explorable through interactive Story Maps and a semantic Web service. Through semantic queries, we demonstrate that the graph allows for exploring territorial complexities and discovering new knowledge on mountain areas' environmental, societal, territory, and economic aspects that could help stem depopulation.Source: SCIENTIFIC DATA, vol. 11
DOI: 10.1038/s41597-024-03760-9
Project(s): Mountain Valorization through Interconnectedness and Green Growth
Metrics:
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Coro G., Lenzi E., Pratelli N., Pagano P., Moretti M., Brunori G.
The United Nations forecast a significant shift in global population distribution by 2050, with rural populations projected to decline. This decline will particularly challenge mountain areas' cultural heritage, well-being, and economic sustainability. Understanding the economic, environmental, and societal effects of rural population decline is particularly important in Europe, where mountainous regions are vital for supplying goods. The present paper describes a geospatially explicit semantic knowledge graph containing information on 454 European mountain value chains. It is the first large-size, structured collection of information on mountain value chains. Our graph, structured through ontology-based semantic modelling, offers representations of the value chains in the form of narratives. The graph was constructed semi-automatically from unstructured data provided by mountain-area expert scholars. It is accessible through a public repository and explorable through interactive Story Maps and a semantic Web service. Through semantic queries, we demonstrate that the graph allows for exploring territorial complexities and discovering new knowledge on mountain areas' environmental, societal, territory, and economic aspects that could help stem depopulation.Source: SCIENTIFIC DATA, vol. 11
DOI: 10.1038/s41597-024-03760-9
Project(s): Mountain Valorization through Interconnectedness and Green Growth
Metrics:
See at:
Scientific Data | Scientific Data | IRIS Cnr | IRIS Cnr | Software Heritage | GitHub | CNR IRIS
2024
Journal article
Open Access
Modelling and simulation of traditional craft actions
Zabulis X., Partarakis N., Demeridou I., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Pratelli N., Meghini C., Nikolaou N., Fallahian P.
The problem of modelling and simulating traditional crafting actions is addressed, motivated by the goals of craft understanding, documentation, and training. First, the physical entities involved in crafting actions are identified, physically, and semantically characterised, including causing entities, conditions, properties, and objects, as well as the space and time in which they occur. Actions are semantically classified into a taxonomy of four classes according to their goals, which are shown to exhibit similarities in their operation principles and utilised tools. This classification is employed to simplify the create archetypal simulators, based on the Finite Element Method, by developing archetypal simulators for each class and specialising them in craft-specific actions. The approach is validated by specialising the proposed archetypes into indicative craft actions and predicting their results in simulation. The simulated actions are rendered in 3D to create visual demonstrations and can be integrated into game engines for training applications.Source: APPLIED SCIENCES, vol. 14 (issue 17)
DOI: 10.3390/app14177750
Project(s): Craeft
Metrics:
Zabulis X., Partarakis N., Demeridou I., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Pratelli N., Meghini C., Nikolaou N., Fallahian P.
The problem of modelling and simulating traditional crafting actions is addressed, motivated by the goals of craft understanding, documentation, and training. First, the physical entities involved in crafting actions are identified, physically, and semantically characterised, including causing entities, conditions, properties, and objects, as well as the space and time in which they occur. Actions are semantically classified into a taxonomy of four classes according to their goals, which are shown to exhibit similarities in their operation principles and utilised tools. This classification is employed to simplify the create archetypal simulators, based on the Finite Element Method, by developing archetypal simulators for each class and specialising them in craft-specific actions. The approach is validated by specialising the proposed archetypes into indicative craft actions and predicting their results in simulation. The simulated actions are rendered in 3D to create visual demonstrations and can be integrated into game engines for training applications.Source: APPLIED SCIENCES, vol. 14 (issue 17)
DOI: 10.3390/app14177750
Project(s): Craeft
Metrics:
See at:
Applied Sciences | Applied Sciences | IRIS Cnr | IRIS Cnr | CNR IRIS
2024
Journal article
Open Access
Multimodal dictionaries for traditional craft education
Zabulis X., Partarakis N., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Pratelli N., Meghini C., Dubois A., Moreno I., Manitsaris S.
We address the problem of systematizing the authoring of digital dictionaries for craft education from ethnographic studies and recordings. First, we present guidelines for the collection of ethnographic data using digital audio and video and identify terms that are central in the description of crafting actions, products, tools, and materials. Second, we present a classification scheme for craft terms and a way to semantically annotate them, using a multilingual and hierarchical thesaurus, which provides term definitions and a semantic hierarchy of these terms. Third, we link ethnographic resources and open-access data to the identified terms using an online platform for the representation of traditional crafts, associating their definition with illustrations, examples of use, and 3D models. We validate the efficacy of the approach by creating multimedia vocabularies for an online eLearning platform for introductory courses to nine traditional crafts.Source: MULTIMODAL TECHNOLOGIES AND INTERACTION, vol. 8 (issue 7)
DOI: 10.3390/mti8070063
Project(s): Craeft
Metrics:
Zabulis X., Partarakis N., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Pratelli N., Meghini C., Dubois A., Moreno I., Manitsaris S.
We address the problem of systematizing the authoring of digital dictionaries for craft education from ethnographic studies and recordings. First, we present guidelines for the collection of ethnographic data using digital audio and video and identify terms that are central in the description of crafting actions, products, tools, and materials. Second, we present a classification scheme for craft terms and a way to semantically annotate them, using a multilingual and hierarchical thesaurus, which provides term definitions and a semantic hierarchy of these terms. Third, we link ethnographic resources and open-access data to the identified terms using an online platform for the representation of traditional crafts, associating their definition with illustrations, examples of use, and 3D models. We validate the efficacy of the approach by creating multimedia vocabularies for an online eLearning platform for introductory courses to nine traditional crafts.Source: MULTIMODAL TECHNOLOGIES AND INTERACTION, vol. 8 (issue 7)
DOI: 10.3390/mti8070063
Project(s): Craeft
Metrics:
See at:
Multimodal Technologies and Interaction | Multimodal Technologies and Interaction | IRIS Cnr | IRIS Cnr | Hal | Hal | Hal | CNR IRIS
2024
Journal article
Open Access
Representing geospatial knowledge in narratives
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Pratelli N.
This paper explores the representation of geospatial knowledge within narratives through a Semantic Web approach. We introduce the NOnt+Space (NOnt+S) model, an extension of the CIDOC CRM-based Narrative Ontology, which allows the representation of narratives and their geospatial aspects. By leveraging standards such as CRMgeo and GeoSPARQL, NOnt+S ensures systematic and interoperable geospatial representation in narratives, enabling geospatial queries on knowledge graphs. We present an assessment of NOnt+S utilising data from the H2020 MOVING European project (2021-2024), which collected knowledge about European mountain value chains intended as Cultural Heritage. We have represented this knowledge as geospatial narratives using NOnt+S. GeoSPARQL queries and semantic reasoning applied to the created KG reveal the ontology ability to infer new geospatial knowledge. Our work contributes to the ongoing efforts in the Semantic Web community to integrate and represent geospatial information within narratives, promoting collaboration and interoperability across various scientific domains.Source: JOURNAL ON COMPUTING AND CULTURAL HERITAGE
DOI: 10.1145/3703918
Metrics:
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Pratelli N.
This paper explores the representation of geospatial knowledge within narratives through a Semantic Web approach. We introduce the NOnt+Space (NOnt+S) model, an extension of the CIDOC CRM-based Narrative Ontology, which allows the representation of narratives and their geospatial aspects. By leveraging standards such as CRMgeo and GeoSPARQL, NOnt+S ensures systematic and interoperable geospatial representation in narratives, enabling geospatial queries on knowledge graphs. We present an assessment of NOnt+S utilising data from the H2020 MOVING European project (2021-2024), which collected knowledge about European mountain value chains intended as Cultural Heritage. We have represented this knowledge as geospatial narratives using NOnt+S. GeoSPARQL queries and semantic reasoning applied to the created KG reveal the ontology ability to infer new geospatial knowledge. Our work contributes to the ongoing efforts in the Semantic Web community to integrate and represent geospatial information within narratives, promoting collaboration and interoperability across various scientific domains.Source: JOURNAL ON COMPUTING AND CULTURAL HERITAGE
DOI: 10.1145/3703918
Metrics:
See at:
IRIS Cnr | Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage | IRIS Cnr | Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS
2023
Journal article
Open Access
From unstructured texts to semantic story maps
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Coro G., Lenzi E., Pagano P., Pratelli N.
Digital maps greatly support storytelling about territories, especially when enriched with data describing cultural, societal, and ecological aspects, conveying emotional messages that describe the territory as a whole. Story maps are interactive online digital narratives that can describe a territory beyond its map by enriching the map with text, pictures, videos, and other multimedia information. This paper presents a semi-automatic workflow to produce story maps from textual documents containing territory data. An expert first assembles one territory-contextual document containing text and images. Then, automatic processes use natural language processing and Wikidata services to (i) extract key concepts (entities) and geospatial coordinates associated with the territory, (ii) assemble a logically-ordered sequence of enriched story-map events, and (iii) openly publish online story maps and an interoperable Linked Open Data semantic knowledge base for event exploration and inter-story correlation analyses. Our workflow uses an Open Science-oriented methodology to publish all processes and data. Through our workflow, we produced story maps for the value chains and territories of 23 rural European areas of 16 countries. Through numerical evaluation, we demonstrated that territory experts considered the story maps effective in describing their territories, and appropriate for communicating with citizens and stakeholders.Source: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DIGITAL EARTH (ONLINE), vol. 16 (issue 1), pp. 234-250
DOI: 10.1080/17538947.2023.2168774
Project(s): MOVING
Metrics:
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Coro G., Lenzi E., Pagano P., Pratelli N.
Digital maps greatly support storytelling about territories, especially when enriched with data describing cultural, societal, and ecological aspects, conveying emotional messages that describe the territory as a whole. Story maps are interactive online digital narratives that can describe a territory beyond its map by enriching the map with text, pictures, videos, and other multimedia information. This paper presents a semi-automatic workflow to produce story maps from textual documents containing territory data. An expert first assembles one territory-contextual document containing text and images. Then, automatic processes use natural language processing and Wikidata services to (i) extract key concepts (entities) and geospatial coordinates associated with the territory, (ii) assemble a logically-ordered sequence of enriched story-map events, and (iii) openly publish online story maps and an interoperable Linked Open Data semantic knowledge base for event exploration and inter-story correlation analyses. Our workflow uses an Open Science-oriented methodology to publish all processes and data. Through our workflow, we produced story maps for the value chains and territories of 23 rural European areas of 16 countries. Through numerical evaluation, we demonstrated that territory experts considered the story maps effective in describing their territories, and appropriate for communicating with citizens and stakeholders.Source: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DIGITAL EARTH (ONLINE), vol. 16 (issue 1), pp. 234-250
DOI: 10.1080/17538947.2023.2168774
Project(s): MOVING
Metrics:
See at:
CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | ISTI Repository | www.tandfonline.com | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS
2023
Book
Restricted
Semantic Web - Introduction to Semantic Web languages
Meghini C, Bartalesi Lenzi V
The Web makes a very large amount of information available to users in the form of documents. The Semantic Web is a fundamental extension of the web as it allows, in addition to documents, the sharing of data (including document metadata) in a standard format along with their semantic context expressed in a formal and shared language. Applications in documentary science, biology, cultural heritage and electronic commerce have already demonstrated the validity of this approach. This volume constitutes a gentle introduction to the technologies and languages of the semantic web, clearly illustrating the steps necessary to transform a product published on the web into a set of data that can be processed and reused across applications, users and communities. This is the second monograph of the ebook series "Digital Culture Notebooks" edited by the Laboratory of Digital Culture of the University of Pisa (http://www.labcd.unipi.it) and published by Simonelli editore. The series houses short monographs on tools and research in the field of Digital Humanities which emerged from the work of teachers and students who collaborate with the Laboratory itself. It aims to support a wider dissemination of digital culture, understood as the field in which the humanities and some sectors of informatics interact and collaborate.
Meghini C, Bartalesi Lenzi V
The Web makes a very large amount of information available to users in the form of documents. The Semantic Web is a fundamental extension of the web as it allows, in addition to documents, the sharing of data (including document metadata) in a standard format along with their semantic context expressed in a formal and shared language. Applications in documentary science, biology, cultural heritage and electronic commerce have already demonstrated the validity of this approach. This volume constitutes a gentle introduction to the technologies and languages of the semantic web, clearly illustrating the steps necessary to transform a product published on the web into a set of data that can be processed and reused across applications, users and communities. This is the second monograph of the ebook series "Digital Culture Notebooks" edited by the Laboratory of Digital Culture of the University of Pisa (http://www.labcd.unipi.it) and published by Simonelli editore. The series houses short monographs on tools and research in the field of Digital Humanities which emerged from the work of teachers and students who collaborate with the Laboratory itself. It aims to support a wider dissemination of digital culture, understood as the field in which the humanities and some sectors of informatics interact and collaborate.
See at:
CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS | www.mondadoristore.it
2023
Journal article
Open Access
Using Semantic Web to create and explore an index of toponyms cited in Medieval geographical works
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Pratelli N., Lenzi E., Pontari P.
Western thought in European history was mainly affected by the image of the world created during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The most popular reason to travel during the Middle Ages was taking a pilgrimage. Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela were the most popular destinations. It is not surprising that a lot of works written by travellers as guides for pilgrims exist. By the beginning of the Renaissance, a more precise image of the world was defined thanks to the discovery of ancient geographical models, especially the work of Ptolemy. The three years (2020-2023) Italian National research project IMAGO - Index Medii Aevi Geographiae Operum - aims to provide a systematic overview of the medieval and renaissance Latin geographical literature using the Semantic Web technologies and the LOD paradigm. Indeed, until now, this literature has not been studied using digital methods. In particular, this paper presents how we formally represented the knowledge about the toponyms, or place names, in the IMAGO ontology. To maximise the interoperability, we developed the IMAGO ontology as an extension of two reference vocabularies: the CIDOC CRM and its extension FRBRoo, including its in-progress reformulation, LRMoo. Furthermore, we used Wikidata as reference knowledge base. As case study, we chose to represent the knowledge related to the toponyms cited by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri in his Latin works. We carried out a first experiment for visualising the knowledge about these toponyms on a map and in the form of tables and CSV files.Source: JOURNAL ON COMPUTING AND CULTURAL HERITAGE
DOI: 10.1145/3582263
Metrics:
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Pratelli N., Lenzi E., Pontari P.
Western thought in European history was mainly affected by the image of the world created during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The most popular reason to travel during the Middle Ages was taking a pilgrimage. Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela were the most popular destinations. It is not surprising that a lot of works written by travellers as guides for pilgrims exist. By the beginning of the Renaissance, a more precise image of the world was defined thanks to the discovery of ancient geographical models, especially the work of Ptolemy. The three years (2020-2023) Italian National research project IMAGO - Index Medii Aevi Geographiae Operum - aims to provide a systematic overview of the medieval and renaissance Latin geographical literature using the Semantic Web technologies and the LOD paradigm. Indeed, until now, this literature has not been studied using digital methods. In particular, this paper presents how we formally represented the knowledge about the toponyms, or place names, in the IMAGO ontology. To maximise the interoperability, we developed the IMAGO ontology as an extension of two reference vocabularies: the CIDOC CRM and its extension FRBRoo, including its in-progress reformulation, LRMoo. Furthermore, we used Wikidata as reference knowledge base. As case study, we chose to represent the knowledge related to the toponyms cited by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri in his Latin works. We carried out a first experiment for visualising the knowledge about these toponyms on a map and in the form of tables and CSV files.Source: JOURNAL ON COMPUTING AND CULTURAL HERITAGE
DOI: 10.1145/3582263
Metrics:
See at:
dl.acm.org | CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS
2023
Journal article
Open Access
An exploratory approach to data driven knowledge creation
Thanos C., Meghini C., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Coro G.
This paper describes a new approach to knowledge creation that is instrumental for the emerging paradigm of data-intensive science. The proposed approach enables the acquisition of new insights from the data by exploiting existing relationships between diverse types of datasets acquired through various modalities. The value of data consistently improves when it can be linked to other data because linking multiple types of datasets allows creating novel data patterns within a scientific data space. These patterns enable the exploratory data analysis, an analysis strategy that emphasizes incremental and adaptive access to the datasets constituting a scientific data space while maintaining an open mind to alternative possibilities of data interconnectivity. A technology, the Linked Open data (LOD), was developed to enable the linking of datasets. We argue that the LOD technology presents several limitations that prevent the full exploitation of this technology to acquire new insights. In this paper, we outline a new approach that enables researchers to dynamically create data patterns in a research data space by exploiting explicit and implicit/hidden relationships between distributed research datasets. This dynamic creation of data patterns enables the exploratory data analysis strategy.Source: JOURNAL OF BIG DATA, vol. 10
DOI: 10.1186/s40537-023-00702-x
Metrics:
Thanos C., Meghini C., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Coro G.
This paper describes a new approach to knowledge creation that is instrumental for the emerging paradigm of data-intensive science. The proposed approach enables the acquisition of new insights from the data by exploiting existing relationships between diverse types of datasets acquired through various modalities. The value of data consistently improves when it can be linked to other data because linking multiple types of datasets allows creating novel data patterns within a scientific data space. These patterns enable the exploratory data analysis, an analysis strategy that emphasizes incremental and adaptive access to the datasets constituting a scientific data space while maintaining an open mind to alternative possibilities of data interconnectivity. A technology, the Linked Open data (LOD), was developed to enable the linking of datasets. We argue that the LOD technology presents several limitations that prevent the full exploitation of this technology to acquire new insights. In this paper, we outline a new approach that enables researchers to dynamically create data patterns in a research data space by exploiting explicit and implicit/hidden relationships between distributed research datasets. This dynamic creation of data patterns enables the exploratory data analysis strategy.Source: JOURNAL OF BIG DATA, vol. 10
DOI: 10.1186/s40537-023-00702-x
Metrics:
See at:
CNR IRIS | journalofbigdata.springeropen.com | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS
2023
Conference article
Open Access
A web tool to create and visualise semantic story maps
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Lenzi E., Pratelli N.
This paper presents the Story Map Building and Visualizing Tool (SMBVT), a sofware that allows users to create and visualise semantic story maps using a user-friendly web interface. The tool uses Wikidata as external reference knowledge base and exploits Semantic Web technologies in the back-end system to represent stories modelled on the Narrative ontology, a CRM-based vocabulary for representing narratives. SMBVT is entirely open-source and accessible afer free registration.Source: CEUR WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS, pp. 163-169. Dublin, Ireland, 02/04/2023
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Lenzi E., Pratelli N.
This paper presents the Story Map Building and Visualizing Tool (SMBVT), a sofware that allows users to create and visualise semantic story maps using a user-friendly web interface. The tool uses Wikidata as external reference knowledge base and exploits Semantic Web technologies in the back-end system to represent stories modelled on the Narrative ontology, a CRM-based vocabulary for representing narratives. SMBVT is entirely open-source and accessible afer free registration.Source: CEUR WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS, pp. 163-169. Dublin, Ireland, 02/04/2023
See at:
ceur-ws.org | CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS
2023
Conference article
Open Access
Creating and visualising semantic story maps
Bartalesi Lenzi V.
A narrative is a conceptual basis of collective human understanding. Humans use stories to represent characters' intentions, feelings and the attributes of objects, and events. A widely-held thesis in psychology to justify the centrality of narrative in human life is that humans make sense of reality by structuring events into narratives. Therefore, narratives are central to human activity in cultural, scientic, and social areas. Story maps are computer science realizations of narratives based on maps. They are online interactive maps enriched with text, pictures, videos, and other multimedia information, whose aim is to tell a story over a territory. This talk presents a semi-automatic workow that, using a CRM-based ontology and the Semantic Web technologies, produces semantic narratives in the form of story maps (and timelines as an alternative representation) from textual documents. An expert user rst assembles one territory-contextual document containing text and images. Then, automatic processes use natural language processing and Wikidata services to (i) extract entities and geospatial points of interest associated with the territory, (ii) assemble a logically-ordered sequence of events that constitute the narrative, enriched with entities and images, and (iii) openly publish online semantic story maps and an interoperable Linked Open Data-compliant knowledge base for event exploration and inter-story correlation analyses. Once the story maps are published, the users can review them through a user-friendly web tool. Overall, our workow complies with Open Science directives of open publication and multi-discipline support and is appropriate to convey "information going beyond the map" to scientists and the large public. As demonstrations, the talk will show workow-produced story maps to represent (i) 23 European rural areas across 16 countries, their value chains and territories, (ii) a Medieval journey, (iii) the history of the legends, biological investigations, and AI-based modelling for habitat discovery of the giant squid Architeuthis dux.Source: CEUR WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS, pp. 3-4. Dublin, Ireland, 02/04/2023
Bartalesi Lenzi V.
A narrative is a conceptual basis of collective human understanding. Humans use stories to represent characters' intentions, feelings and the attributes of objects, and events. A widely-held thesis in psychology to justify the centrality of narrative in human life is that humans make sense of reality by structuring events into narratives. Therefore, narratives are central to human activity in cultural, scientic, and social areas. Story maps are computer science realizations of narratives based on maps. They are online interactive maps enriched with text, pictures, videos, and other multimedia information, whose aim is to tell a story over a territory. This talk presents a semi-automatic workow that, using a CRM-based ontology and the Semantic Web technologies, produces semantic narratives in the form of story maps (and timelines as an alternative representation) from textual documents. An expert user rst assembles one territory-contextual document containing text and images. Then, automatic processes use natural language processing and Wikidata services to (i) extract entities and geospatial points of interest associated with the territory, (ii) assemble a logically-ordered sequence of events that constitute the narrative, enriched with entities and images, and (iii) openly publish online semantic story maps and an interoperable Linked Open Data-compliant knowledge base for event exploration and inter-story correlation analyses. Once the story maps are published, the users can review them through a user-friendly web tool. Overall, our workow complies with Open Science directives of open publication and multi-discipline support and is appropriate to convey "information going beyond the map" to scientists and the large public. As demonstrations, the talk will show workow-produced story maps to represent (i) 23 European rural areas across 16 countries, their value chains and territories, (ii) a Medieval journey, (iii) the history of the legends, biological investigations, and AI-based modelling for habitat discovery of the giant squid Architeuthis dux.Source: CEUR WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS, pp. 3-4. Dublin, Ireland, 02/04/2023
See at:
ceur-ws.org | CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS
2023
Journal article
Open Access
A roadmap for craft understanding, education, training, and preservation
Zabulis X., Partarakis N., Demeridou I., Doulgeraki P., Zidianakis E., Argyros A., Theodoridou M., Marketakis Y., Meghini C., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Pratelli N., Holz C., Streli P., Meier M., Seidler M. K., Werup L., Sichani P. F., Manitsaris S., Senteri G., Dubois A., Ringas C., Ziova A., Tasiopoulou E., Kaplanidi D., Arnaud D., Hee P., Canavate G., Benvenuti M. A., Krivokapic J.
A roadmap is proposed that defines a systematic approach for craft preservation and its evaluation. The proposed roadmap aims to deepen craft understanding so that blueprints of appropriate tools that support craft documentation, education, and training can be designed while achieving preservation through the stimulation and diversification of practitioner income. In addition to this roadmap, an evaluation strategy is proposed to validate the efficacy of the developed results and provide a benchmark for the efficacy of craft preservation approaches. The proposed contribution aims at the catalyzation of craft education and training with digital aids, widening access and engagement to crafts, economizing learning, increasing exercisability, and relaxing remoteness constraints in craft learning.Source: HERITAGE, vol. 6 (issue 7), pp. 5305-5328
DOI: 10.3390/heritage6070280
Metrics:
Zabulis X., Partarakis N., Demeridou I., Doulgeraki P., Zidianakis E., Argyros A., Theodoridou M., Marketakis Y., Meghini C., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Pratelli N., Holz C., Streli P., Meier M., Seidler M. K., Werup L., Sichani P. F., Manitsaris S., Senteri G., Dubois A., Ringas C., Ziova A., Tasiopoulou E., Kaplanidi D., Arnaud D., Hee P., Canavate G., Benvenuti M. A., Krivokapic J.
A roadmap is proposed that defines a systematic approach for craft preservation and its evaluation. The proposed roadmap aims to deepen craft understanding so that blueprints of appropriate tools that support craft documentation, education, and training can be designed while achieving preservation through the stimulation and diversification of practitioner income. In addition to this roadmap, an evaluation strategy is proposed to validate the efficacy of the developed results and provide a benchmark for the efficacy of craft preservation approaches. The proposed contribution aims at the catalyzation of craft education and training with digital aids, widening access and engagement to crafts, economizing learning, increasing exercisability, and relaxing remoteness constraints in craft learning.Source: HERITAGE, vol. 6 (issue 7), pp. 5305-5328
DOI: 10.3390/heritage6070280
Metrics:
See at:
CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | www.mdpi.com | CNR IRIS
2023
Conference article
Open Access
Towards digital twins of territories through semantic story maps
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Coro G., Lenzi E., Pratelli N., Pagano P.
Digital maps greatly support storytelling about territories, especially when enriched with data describing cultural, societal, and ecological aspects, conveying emotional messages that describe the territory as a whole.Story maps are interactive online digital narratives that can describe a territory beyond its map by enriching themap with text, pictures, videos, and other multimedia information. This paper outlines how online story mapscan fill the gap between a map and a territory in narratives to create a digital twin of different territories asinter-connected semantic stories
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Coro G., Lenzi E., Pratelli N., Pagano P.
Digital maps greatly support storytelling about territories, especially when enriched with data describing cultural, societal, and ecological aspects, conveying emotional messages that describe the territory as a whole.Story maps are interactive online digital narratives that can describe a territory beyond its map by enriching themap with text, pictures, videos, and other multimedia information. This paper outlines how online story mapscan fill the gap between a map and a territory in narratives to create a digital twin of different territories asinter-connected semantic stories
See at:
CNR IRIS | inm.cnr.it | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS
2023
Journal article
Open Access
Using semantic story maps to describe a territory beyond its map
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Coro G., Lenzi E., Pratelli N., Pagano P., Felici F., Moretti M., Brunori G.
The paper presents the Story Map Building and Visualizing Tool (SMBVT) that allows users to create story maps within a collaborative environment and a usable Web interface. It is entirely open-source and published as a free-to-use solution. It uses Semantic Web technologies in the back-end system to represent stories through a reference ontology for representing narratives. It builds up a user-shared semantic knowledge base that automatically interconnects all stories and seamlessly enables collaborative story building. Finally, it operates within an Open-Science oriented e-Infrastructure, which enables data and information sharing within communities of narrators, and adds multi-tenancy, multi-user, security, and access-control facilities. SMBVT represents narratives as a network of spatiotemporal events related by semantic relations and standardizes the event descriptions by assigning internationalized resource identifiers (IRIs) to the event components, i.e., the entities that take part in the event (e.g., persons, objects, places, concepts). The tool automatically saves the collected knowledge as a Web Ontology Language (OWL) graph and openly publishes it as Linked Open Data. This feature allows connecting the story events to other knowledge bases. To evaluate and demonstrate our tool, we used it to describe the Apuan Alps territory in Tuscany (Italy). Based on a user-test evaluation, we assessed the tool's effectiveness at building story maps and the ability of the produced story to describe the territory beyond the map.Source: SEMANTIC WEB (ONLINE), vol. 14 (issue 6), pp. 1255-1272
DOI: 10.3233/sw-233485
Metrics:
Bartalesi Lenzi V., Coro G., Lenzi E., Pratelli N., Pagano P., Felici F., Moretti M., Brunori G.
The paper presents the Story Map Building and Visualizing Tool (SMBVT) that allows users to create story maps within a collaborative environment and a usable Web interface. It is entirely open-source and published as a free-to-use solution. It uses Semantic Web technologies in the back-end system to represent stories through a reference ontology for representing narratives. It builds up a user-shared semantic knowledge base that automatically interconnects all stories and seamlessly enables collaborative story building. Finally, it operates within an Open-Science oriented e-Infrastructure, which enables data and information sharing within communities of narrators, and adds multi-tenancy, multi-user, security, and access-control facilities. SMBVT represents narratives as a network of spatiotemporal events related by semantic relations and standardizes the event descriptions by assigning internationalized resource identifiers (IRIs) to the event components, i.e., the entities that take part in the event (e.g., persons, objects, places, concepts). The tool automatically saves the collected knowledge as a Web Ontology Language (OWL) graph and openly publishes it as Linked Open Data. This feature allows connecting the story events to other knowledge bases. To evaluate and demonstrate our tool, we used it to describe the Apuan Alps territory in Tuscany (Italy). Based on a user-test evaluation, we assessed the tool's effectiveness at building story maps and the ability of the produced story to describe the territory beyond the map.Source: SEMANTIC WEB (ONLINE), vol. 14 (issue 6), pp. 1255-1272
DOI: 10.3233/sw-233485
Metrics:
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content.iospress.com | CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS
2023
Other
Open Access
AIMH Research Activities 2023
Aloia N., Amato G., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Bianchi L., Bolettieri P., Bosio C., Carraglia M., Carrara F., Casarosa V., Ciampi L., Coccomini D. A., Concordia C., Corbara S., De Martino C., Di Benedetto M., Esuli A., Falchi F., Fazzari E., Gennaro C., Lagani G., Lenzi E., Meghini C., Messina N., Molinari A., Moreo Fernandez A., Nardi A., Pedrotti A., Pratelli N., Puccetti G., Rabitti F., Savino P., Sebastiani F., Sperduti G., Thanos C., Trupiano L., Vadicamo L., Vairo C., Versienti L.
The AIMH (Artificial Intelligence for Media and Humanities) laboratory is dedicated to exploring and pushing the boundaries in the field of Artificial Intelligence, with a particular focus on its application in digital media and humanities. This lab's objective is to enhance the current state of AI technology particularly on deep learning, text analysis, computer vision, multimedia information retrieval, multimedia content analysis, recognition, and retrieval. This report encapsulates the laboratory's progress and activities throughout the year 2023.DOI: 10.32079/isti-ar-2023/001
Metrics:
Aloia N., Amato G., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Bianchi L., Bolettieri P., Bosio C., Carraglia M., Carrara F., Casarosa V., Ciampi L., Coccomini D. A., Concordia C., Corbara S., De Martino C., Di Benedetto M., Esuli A., Falchi F., Fazzari E., Gennaro C., Lagani G., Lenzi E., Meghini C., Messina N., Molinari A., Moreo Fernandez A., Nardi A., Pedrotti A., Pratelli N., Puccetti G., Rabitti F., Savino P., Sebastiani F., Sperduti G., Thanos C., Trupiano L., Vadicamo L., Vairo C., Versienti L.
The AIMH (Artificial Intelligence for Media and Humanities) laboratory is dedicated to exploring and pushing the boundaries in the field of Artificial Intelligence, with a particular focus on its application in digital media and humanities. This lab's objective is to enhance the current state of AI technology particularly on deep learning, text analysis, computer vision, multimedia information retrieval, multimedia content analysis, recognition, and retrieval. This report encapsulates the laboratory's progress and activities throughout the year 2023.DOI: 10.32079/isti-ar-2023/001
Metrics:
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CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS
2022
Journal article
Open Access
Representation of socio-historical context to support the authoring and presentation of multimodal narratives: the Mingei online platform
Partarakis N., Doulgeraki P., Karuzaki E., Adami I., Ntoa S., Metilli D., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Meghini C., Marketakis Y., Kaplanidi D., Theodoridou M., Zabulis X.
In this article, the Mingei Online Platform is presented as an authoring platform for the representation of social and historic context encompassing a focal topic of interest. The proposed representation is employed in the contextualised presentation of a given topic, through documented narratives that support its presentation to diverse audiences. Using the obtained representation, the documentation and digital preservation of social and historical dimensions of Cultural Heritage are demonstrated. The implementation follows the Human-Centred Design approach and has been conducted under an iterative design and evaluation approach involving both usability and domain experts.Source: JOURNAL ON COMPUTING AND CULTURAL HERITAGE, vol. 15 (issue 1), pp. 1-26
DOI: 10.1145/3465556
Project(s): Mingei
Metrics:
Partarakis N., Doulgeraki P., Karuzaki E., Adami I., Ntoa S., Metilli D., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Meghini C., Marketakis Y., Kaplanidi D., Theodoridou M., Zabulis X.
In this article, the Mingei Online Platform is presented as an authoring platform for the representation of social and historic context encompassing a focal topic of interest. The proposed representation is employed in the contextualised presentation of a given topic, through documented narratives that support its presentation to diverse audiences. Using the obtained representation, the documentation and digital preservation of social and historical dimensions of Cultural Heritage are demonstrated. The implementation follows the Human-Centred Design approach and has been conducted under an iterative design and evaluation approach involving both usability and domain experts.Source: JOURNAL ON COMPUTING AND CULTURAL HERITAGE, vol. 15 (issue 1), pp. 1-26
DOI: 10.1145/3465556
Project(s): Mingei
Metrics:
See at:
dl.acm.org | CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS
2022
Journal article
Open Access
An exploratory approach to archaeological knowledge production
Thanos C., Meghini C., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Coro G.
The current scientific context is characterized by intensive digitization of the research outcomes and by the creation of data infrastructures for the systematic publication of datasets and data services. Several relationships can exist among these outcomes. Some of them are explicit, e.g. the relationships of spatial or temporal similarity, whereas others are hidden, e.g. the relationship of causality. By materializing these hidden relationships through a linking mechanism, several patterns can be established. These knowledge patterns may lead to the discovery of information previously unknown. A new approach to knowledge production can emerge by following these patterns. This new approach is exploratory because by following these patterns, a researcher can get new insights into a research problem. In the paper, we report our effort to depict this new exploratory approach using Linked Data and Semantic Web technologies (RDF, OWL). As a use case, we apply our approach to the archaeological domain.Source: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON DIGITAL LIBRARIES (INTERNET), vol. 23, pp. 231-239
DOI: 10.1007/s00799-022-00324-3
Metrics:
Thanos C., Meghini C., Bartalesi Lenzi V., Coro G.
The current scientific context is characterized by intensive digitization of the research outcomes and by the creation of data infrastructures for the systematic publication of datasets and data services. Several relationships can exist among these outcomes. Some of them are explicit, e.g. the relationships of spatial or temporal similarity, whereas others are hidden, e.g. the relationship of causality. By materializing these hidden relationships through a linking mechanism, several patterns can be established. These knowledge patterns may lead to the discovery of information previously unknown. A new approach to knowledge production can emerge by following these patterns. This new approach is exploratory because by following these patterns, a researcher can get new insights into a research problem. In the paper, we report our effort to depict this new exploratory approach using Linked Data and Semantic Web technologies (RDF, OWL). As a use case, we apply our approach to the archaeological domain.Source: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON DIGITAL LIBRARIES (INTERNET), vol. 23, pp. 231-239
DOI: 10.1007/s00799-022-00324-3
Metrics:
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CNR IRIS | link.springer.com | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS